_A Street._
_Enter_ VINCENTIO _and_ LEONARDO, _followed by several citizens_.
VINCENTIO.
Courage, my friends! this way leads to his prison.
We’ll break those bars, and drag their gloomy secrets
Into unwonted light.
LEONARDO.
Nay--by such madness
You cast away success.
VINCENTIO.
Shall we shrink back
Even on its threshold?
LEONARDO.
One false step, bethink you,
May lose you all. Look--yonder they approach!
VINCENTIO.
Now is the moment.
LEONARDO.
No--’twould but endanger
Yourselves--and serve not him. Pray you--be patient
’Till they have reached the palace; then surround it,
And with your prayers, which more than threats avail,
Besiege their ears.
VINCENTIO.
To be repulsed and mocked!
LEONARDO.
If so, despair; no force of yours can save him.
The Senate would but laugh at you.
_To citizens._] Depart!
We are safe no longer here. [_Exeunt._